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Yup, that's the one. I can upgrade the gimbal to hold a DSLR in the future if I choose to do so. These are very robust copters. I turn off the wifi on the gopro- it isn't necessary. I start the recording manually. I can see the image on the FPV monitor (which I decided not to use until I'm comfortable taking off and landing).
I can't stress enough, to anyone who wants one- get a Nano QX to practice with. It's less than $100, you can fly it in the house, it's a blast, and it WILL prepare you for the big, expensive toy.

02-05-2014 09:14 AM

kwaltersmi

Re: Best Drone for GoPro???

A quadcopter with video capability is on my "want list". Such cool videos, particularly if you have the confidence to fly it over water and get some sailing footage. Really puts my kite-cam endeavors to shame!

The Parrot looks like an interesting option given the price and the included camera.

Mine has an RF wireless video transmitter so I have a live feed coming from the camera. I don't know its range yet, but I'm thinking, line of sight, 500 feet or so. I mounted the monitor to the controller. It is quite the setup.

So for the Phantom 2 you can add a transmitter and get some Fat Shark goggles for around $300 complete to get FPV (First Person View) That way you can fly and see where you are going. The Wi-Fi on the GoPro can over power the signal on the Phantom, making it unreliable at times, thus the need for the additional equipment for FPV flying. We have also tried with a monitor, which works great if you have a person to fly and one to operate the camera. The gimbal on the phantom keeps everything stable. If you have not seen it before the craft tilts as it flies forward and backwards. The gimbal keeps the camera level on everything is smooth. There are a ton of cool videos, both of flight and how to fly, out there. If you are not familiar with the Phantom and other UAVs you should have a look, fantastic tech for the price!

Maiden Flight x830 - YouTube
We did it! My son and I went to a nearby baseball field and, very nervously, achieved lift off. After hours of practice with the nano, it turned out that the x830 was far more stable (ECS, Duh..). Take off and landing are tough, but flight is fairly straightforward. Only a few puffs of 2-3kt winds at 2200 ft elevation.I'm going to spend a few battery cycles practicing here, then I'm going to take it to Vegas!

Ron,

Excellent post. You really showed how you can pan without the picture tilting at all.

We did it! My son and I went to a nearby baseball field and, very nervously, achieved lift off. After hours of practice with the nano, it turned out that the x830 was far more stable (ECS, Duh..). Take off and landing are tough, but flight is fairly straightforward. Only a few puffs of 2-3kt winds at 2200 ft elevation.I'm going to spend a few battery cycles practicing here, then I'm going to take it to Vegas!

02-03-2014 09:54 PM

rbrasi

Re: Best Drone for GoPro???

Mine has an RF wireless video transmitter so I have a live feed coming from the camera. I don't know its range yet, but I'm thinking, line of sight, 500 feet or so. I mounted the monitor to the controller. It is quite the setup.

02-03-2014 04:42 PM

goehner2

Re: Best Drone for GoPro???

The DJI Phantom 2 Vision has live video through a smart phone, but it was just released last October or November and I am leery of brand new technology. I prefer others to work the bugs out before I spend my dollars.

I have a friend with an older phantom (without any possibility of viewing live view of the camera), and he has no issues getting what he wants with the Go Pro as it has such a wide angle view. He actually has made some money off of it taking shots of car shows from above. He is also starting to do fly overs for realtors, get really nice shots of large properties with it. Makes a nice retirement business for him. Live camera view would increase your number of hits though. Without it is kind of like doing the kite camera thing fly and hope for the best. My biggest issue is that most sink if the go down in the water. There are issues with them loosing signal and going out of control occasionally. In the open water that would mean a ruined quadracoptor and possibly a lost camera. Some have a go home feature if they loose signal, but if you are shooting you boat in motion that home spot is not where the boat is anymore! Some also have a tracking feature where it will track a smart phone, so you can get in the air and it will follow the boat till you call it back, kind of cool.

02-03-2014 04:05 PM

xort

Re: Best Drone for GoPro???

With the dji phantom, you shoot "blind"?

I need wireless monitoring of the image

02-03-2014 02:56 PM

miatapaul

Re: Best Drone for GoPro???

these look cool, but are quite DIY, as in you choose all the parts, motors, controlers, radios and what not. But they are waterproof.